There will be a public reading given by Jabr on April 12 at Nox Contemporary Gallery, 440 S 400 W Suite H in Salt Lake City.
The publication studies class is hosting a special event on April 13 in AD 226 next to the writing center where the chapbook will be showcased, a public reading and premiere of the Translation ‘making of’ documentary.
250 copies will be made available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Students are welcome and encouraged to attend and are able to bind and trim a chapbook of their own during this event.
“It opens up so many opportunities,” says Lindsay Stewart, who has been working on the layout and editing of the chapbook. “We’re doing something that you don’t get to do in any other kind of class, where at the end of the class we’ll actually have something like this. This is in the real world; it’s not just in the class.”
The Publication Studies Press is about to publish its second chapbook entitled Translation by Hana Jabr. The book launches April 13 at 11:00 a.m. in the Administration building on Redwood Campus in room AD 226.
Author Hana Jabr, wrote a series of essays for her creative non-fiction class about her relationship with her father. Her class instructor encouraged her to submit her work for this year’s English 1820 chapbook.
“It’s kind of about distance and relationships and specifically the relationship between my dad and I while he was in Iraq for six years,” says Jabr. “It’s made up of a few different essays and I’ve combined them to give an overall view of that relationship between him and I. He was an interpreter. He was translating.”
Jabr explained how her father was a translator in Iraq for six years while she was growing up, which is how she came up with the title, Translation, for her piece.
She said her father never taught her Arabic, so she decided to take a few classes at SLCC to learn Arabic, thinking that it might help her become closer to her father even though he was so far away. She said she would talk with him over the phone and have him help her with her homework.
Publication Studies Press chapbook
Students in the English 1820 publication studies course have been learning about the ins and outs of publishing a book during this past semester.
The course is designed to teach students about marketing, book binding, history and theory and what it takes to publish a book. Students then go through the process of making and publishing the chapbook.
The history of chapbooks began as early as the 16th century and continued on through the middle of the 19th century as religious or political tracts but sometimes included music or poetry and even fiction.
The term ‘chapbook’ is derived from the word ‘ceap’ or ‘cheap’, as a person could buy them for just a few cents. Chapbooks were sold by peddlers known as chapmen, who sold books on street corners.
Modern chapbooks continue this tradition of being a cheaper alternative for emerging writers and artists and have experienced a resurgence in the literary arts.
The first chapbook at SLCC was produced last year and was a fiction piece entitled God’s Country by Sabriel Parker.
Students participated in the entire process of publishing, marketing, binding and trimming the book. In addition to publishing the book they made a documentary on the process.
“It’s been a really good opportunity to learn about publishing,” says Steven Shell, who has been working on public relations for the chapbook. “There are so many different parts of publication that I didn’t realize before this.”
During fall semester a call was put out to SLCC students to submit their manuscripts of creative nonfiction.
The course instructor, Lisa Bickmore, along with others from the English department went through a series of steps, including blind judging by Nicole Walker of Northern Arizona University, to pick the best written essay for publication.
’To build awareness and excitement’
The class takes students through the aspects of how a book is produced from editing all the way to printing. In addition to helping with the chapbook students are required to make a chapbook of their own.
They have created a Youtube video, Facebook page, Twitter account and a WordPress website in order to get the word out for their product and spark interest.
“We worked with Institutional Marketing,” says Lisa Bickmore, the Publication Studies course advisor. “They have been real helpful to us in terms of helping the students think about using social media, writing press releases, not to think about the flow of information out from a project to build awareness and excitement. Joy Tlou and Dave Jones both came to the class to talk to the students about building excitement for the project.”
